Chapter 4: Hemisfair 68

     The boys went home. Joe was still shaken up by the day’s events. He couldn’t stop thinking about Debbie. She was so sweet and the romp in the bushes was the best feeling he’d ever had. He still felt guilty. His mom walked into his room moments after he got back. Her name was Betty, and she had a big smile on her face. She was a trim attractive woman of medium height with brown hair and green eyes. She had on a traditional Spring skirt and white blouse. Both Joe’s mom and dad were born and raised in Iowa, thus his conservative mid-western upbringing.

     Betty said, “Hi sweetheart. Did you and your friends have fun downtown?”

     “Oh yeah. They’re real nice and they showed me a lot of fun stuff to do.” Joe sat there with his head down not wanting her to ask any more questions, but she did.

     “What did you guys do?”

     “Oh, we went to Joske’s, then ran around the alamo, and went down to the river to get a paddle boat for a while. It was great.”

     “Well, I’m glad you had a good time. Supper will be ready in a little while.” She left and Joe gave a sigh of relief.

     So far so good. Apparently, there was nothing on him that gave away his sexual tryst in the bushes earlier. He still couldn’t stop thinking about Debbie. He wanted to go back to the bushes.

     For the next several weeks the boys went to school and played football afterwards. On Saturdays they went downtown and ran around. The school year was almost over so they would soon be able to go downtown more than just Saturdays. They went to the bushes and Joe was now used to meeting up with the girls, and he loved it. Joe met Gloria. She was a small attractive Mexican girl. She had all the tools needed to draw boys to her. She had a beautiful face and curvy body. When she was on the river, she wore a tiny multicolored skirt with a bikini top. Joe still loved Debbie and formed a strong attachment to her. As usual the boys would do their duty and go up to the street successfully recruiting for the girl’s business practices.

     People had been talking for weeks about Hemisfair 68 and how much fun it was. It was very expensive though. The boys couldn’t go because the tickets were five dollars apiece. Nobody had that kind of money back then. Dave, Joe, and Mike stood around Mike’s house and sat on the trunk of his dad’s car strategizing on how to get into Hemisfair. Finally, Mike said, “I think my mom said my cousin was working down there. I wonder if he knows a way to get in.”

     Slowly Dave and Joe turned towards him, and Dave said, “Yeah, why didn’t you tell us that before! He should know how to get in. Beat feet man, go call him now. Tomorrow’s Saturday.”

     Mike ran off towards his house while Joe and Dave sat there and shook their heads in disbelief. Several minutes later Mike came running back and sat down. He told us what his cousin said in between trying to take breaths, “He told me what to do, it’s neato. We’ll do it tomorrow.”

     Joe and Dave looked at each other when Dave said, “What is it!”

     Mike, still trying to catch his breath, “We go to the gate behind the park and act like we work there. We just walk through the gate. If they say something to us, we tell them we sweep the park and keep walking.”

     Joe looked at the guys and said, “That sounds great. We don’t have to worry about the five dollars for a ticket.”

     All the guys were smiling. It sounded like a good plan. Dave said, “Okay, we’ll go in early, so we need to meet at the bus stop about eight. Sound good?”

     They agreed and headed home. The boys each have something to add to the group. Joe is the analytical one, Dave is sales because he can talk to anyone using his smile and accent. Mike has connections with the underground. They make a great con team, for thirteen year olds.

     The next day the boys met at the bus stop around 8:00AM. They were yawning and stretching, still trying to wake up when the bus came over the hill. It was one of the old buses with no air conditioning. The boys considered this bad luck. The temperature wasn’t bad, but they would definitely have their windows open.

     The bus delivered them in relative comfort downtown at Joske’s. In unusual behavior Dave was getting antsy, “Okay Mike, where do we go. I’m not comfortable with this.”

     Joe began to immediately think, ‘Okay, he doesn’t mind sex with women in the bushes, but this upsets him?’

     Mike was focused, “Just follow me, it’ll be okay.”

     Nothing else was said as the boys followed Mike’s lead and headed towards Hemisfair. Mike took them through a winding alley and towards the back of the park. The alley was spacious, and people were walking to work just like the boys. By this time, they were usually talking and laughing but now was quiet time. They approached a gate and people were going in. It was a wide open gate and there was a guard in a booth who was supposed to be checking everyone. The guard was reading a newspaper and waving everyone in as they passed. It looked like a great job. The guard sat there in a booth which had a small window unit air conditioner. He wasn’t even paying attention as the boys walked through. As they walked in Dave did the victory zua to the guard. The guard never looked up. They were in! They now returned to their normal selves and began talking and laughing. Dave was the most animated, “Man, did you see how we just walked right through into Hemisfair. It costs five dollars apiece to get in here.”

     Joe suddenly remembered something he’d heard, “Hey, I saw when you come into Hemisfair they stamp your hand so you can go to all the activities. If you want to ride all the rides, we better go get our hand stamped.”

     Dave now stopped, “Yeah, how are we going to do that?”

     Joe continued, “We’ll go to the front gate and tell them our stamps got washed off in the bathroom.”

     Mike piped in, “We could just tell them we didn’t get stamped.”

     Joe said, “No, just show them your wrist and act like it’s there. They’ll just stamp it again.”

     The boys approached the front gate and walked up to a ticket taker. They all three had the same song and dance, “Can you stamp me again I washed it off.”

     The bored ticket taker didn’t think a thing about it. He stamped all three boys’ wrists, and they were good to go. Dave was excited, “Where do we go first? You want to go see the Mayan Indians? How about the AT&T building of the future?”

     Mike and Joe were still trying to look at everything. There was so much stuff to see and experience. Mike said, “I want to ride the monorail.”

     All the boys agreed and went to a monorail station. They showed their stamps and climbed aboard. It was an amazing ride. Dave was having a great time. It was time for the celebratory zua. As they rode the monorail Dave raised his finger and did the zu zu zuaaaaaa, “Hey man, how about some boys from the southside riding the monorail with the higher ups and Yankees! There must be money to be made here.”

     The boys rode the monorail around the park several times and loved it. They finally got off and decided to get some money from the rich people. Dave turned to Joe, “Okay, we’re going to do the hero bluff. Mike will find someone paying for something. They’re taking out their wallet getting ready to pay, Mike runs by grabbing the wallet. I’m right behind Mike running after him. I run by the guy and yell; I got it. I chase Mike down and tackle him. He falls and I grab the wallet. We roll around for a second and Mike gets up and runs away. I take the wallet back to the guy and he’s so grateful he gives me an enormous reward. Nothing to it.”

     Joe stood there, “What am I supposed to do? It sounds kind of risky.”

     Dave said, “You need to keep an eye out for anyone on to us. When this goes on people will be focusing on us. You need to keep a look out for anyone not distracted by us. If they start moving towards us, you’ll need to warn Mike. Just keep up with him and if anyone notices where he’s going, say ‘tally ho’ when you pass by. He’ll know to exit the park and head for the river. We’ll meet up later.”

     Joe was psyched, “Okay, I can do it.”

     Mike headed through the park with Dave behind him. It was up to Mike to spot the guy they wanted. As he walked, he noticed a couple at the snow cone machine. The man was in his early thirties the same as his wife. The man was wearing a business suit and the wife was wearing a fashionable dress. Mike approached and Dave followed. Dave knew Mike had spotted the guy. As Mike got close, he moved faster until he was in a full sprint. Mike ran into the guy at full speed glancing off him as he grabbed his wallet. Mike stumbled but continued to run. The guy was stunned and watched as Mike ran off with his wallet. Seconds later Dave ran by at full speed yelling to the guy, “Don’t worry!”

     The incident caused a commotion. All the people in the area were watching as Dave quickly caught up to Mike and tackled him. The boys hit the ground and seemed to struggle for a second and Dave turned up with the wallet as Mike ran off. Joe was keeping watch, and no one seemed to be any the wiser. Dave brought the wallet back to the guy. He and his wife were so appreciative of Dave’s efforts. The guy reached into his wallet and pulled out a dollar bill. Dave’s mouth was watering. Then the wife intervened, “No, give him a five.”

     The man hesitated and reached back in his wallet and pulled out a five dollar bill. He gave it to Dave and said, “Thank you young man. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it.”

     This was the ultimate payoff. The boys met at the front gate and discovered their windfall. With that kind of money, they could go anywhere and do anything, but boys being boys the only thing they could think of was the bushes. Mike said, “let’s go see the girls!”

     There was a rousing cheer and off they went to get a paddle boat from Javier.